Chapter 5
Telephony Control

The Telephony Control application provides visual feedback to the user about the progress and status of MacComCenter Plus, access to phonebook, speakerphone and dialing capabilities and displays Caller ID information. The Telephony Control dialog has a main view and four auxiliary views: Status, Dialer, Phonebook and Callers. Each view will be discussed in this chapter.

Main View

The main view displays vital information for the currently selected port. The main view appears as follows:

[Main view]

The top part of the main view provides both a graphical and textual status display. This display shows the current status of the selected port.

The Mode popup menu allows you to specify a mode for your modem. You can choose from the following modes:

Disabled -- The modem is disabled and will not send, receive or answer calls.
Fax Send Only -- The modem will send faxes, but will not receive faxes or voice calls.
Fax Send/Receive -- The modem is enabled to both send and receive faxes.
Voice and Fax -- The modem is enabled to send and receive faxes, and will also receive voice calls if your modem supports voice features.

The Modem Port popup lets you easily cycle among all available ports to monitor their status. Note that you can also use the Port menu to achieve the same result.

The Answer Now button allows you to answer an incoming call immediately. The behavior of this button is dependent upon the mode selected. If Voice and Fax mode is selected, MacComCenter Plus will attempt to answer the phone in voice mode, but will revert to fax mode if an incoming fax is detected.

The Speakerphone button is only available on speakerphone capable modems. This button behaves in the same fashion as a Speakerphone button on a regular telephone. Clicking on this button will take your speakerphone capable modem off-hook (pick it up). The button name will then change to show Hang-up, and clicking on it will hang-up the speakerphone.

Status View

Status view allows the user to see the current status of incoming or outgoing calls. The Status View dialog appears as follows:

[Status view]

The Caller field displays the name of the caller for incoming calls. It will display the name of the
person being called or recipient of a fax for outgoing calls.
The Add Entry button allows you to create a phonebook entry from the Caller ID information, if available. This feature is only available for callers that are not already entered in the phonebook.
The Number field displays the phone number of the caller for incoming calls if Caller ID is available and supported by your modem. It displays the phone number of the person being called or recipient of a fax for outgoing calls.
The Timer field shows the duration of either incoming or outgoing voice calls or faxes. Note that for the timer to work on a voice call you must be using the Telephony Control speakerphone feature.

The three fields at the bottom of Status View gives you an overview of the total number of unheard voice messages, unread incoming faxes, and unsent outgoing faxes.

Dialer View

Dialer view provides speakerphone and dialer support. If your modem provides speakerphone functions you can use this view to talk hands-free on any incoming or outgoing voice call. If your modem does not provide speakerphone support you can use this view to speed dial calls.

The First Name and Last Name fields allow you to easily find a previously entered phonebook entry to dial. Type the first few letters of the first or last name of the person you wish to dial, and if a phonebook entry for that person exists the phone number field will be automatically filled in.
The popup menu to the right of the First Name field provides a list of speed dial entries and allows you to select the entry you wish to dial. (See the Phonebook View section to learn how to create a speed dial entry). After entering or selecting the number you wish to dial, press Dial to dial the number.
The Phone Number field, placed under the Last Name field, holds the number to be dialed. If the number displayed is the result of a lookup done by typing the person's first or last name on the respective field, clicking on the Phone Number field popup menu will let you select the person's Home, Office, Fax, Pager, or Other phone number.

The Flash button allows you to toggle between lines for call waiting, three way calling, or simply for the use of a second phone line. The Mute button is a toggle control which allows you to mute the call so that you can hear the other party, but they can not hear you. The Hold button allows you to place the caller on hold. Note that the Flash, Mute and Hold buttons are only enabled if your modem hardware supports speakerphone functions.

Phonebook View

Phonebook view allows the user to view, create and delete phonebook entries. This view in the Telephony Control application allows you to look up a phonebook entry and call the person without having to run the MessageCenter application. Phonebook View appears as shown below:

[Phonebook view]

Any phonebook entry can be turned into a speed dial entry. Speed dial was discussed under Dialer View earlier in this chapter. To create a speed dial entry simply click on the field to the left of the phonebook entry name. A descriptive icon will appear next to the name indicating that the entry is a speed dial entry.

The displayed phone number can be changed by going to the top of the phone number column and selecting either Home, Office, Fax, or Pager number from the popup menu.

To dial any of the phonebook entries double-click on the desired entry. This will switch the Telephony Control application to Dialer View. Click on the Dial button to dial the entry.

Click on New to create a new phonebook entry. This will provide you with a phonebook entry dialog box like the one shown:

[Phonebook]

Enter the appropriate information in the provide fields. Placing a check in the Don't use SmartDial checkbox causes MessageCenter to dial the number as entered and ignore any Locale information that may be selected. After entering all of the information for this entry, click on Save to save the entry to your phonebook file.

To delete an entry from the phonebook, select the desired entry, or entries, from the list. If you wish to select more than one entry hold down either the Shift or Cmd keys at the same time you click on a second entry. Note that selecting more than one entry on the list disables the Edit... button since you can only edit one entry at a time. Once you have selected the entry, or entries, click on the Delete button. An alert box will appear. Click OK to perform the deletion, or Cancel if you no longer wish to delete the entries. See Chapter 8 for further information on the Phonebook.

If you wish to edit a phonebook, select the desired entry and either click on Edit or double-click on the entry while holding down the ^Option key on your keyboard.

Callers View

Callers View displays all of the calls which have occurred. If Caller ID is enabled, the name and telephone number will be displayed in addition to the date and time of the call. The Callers View appears as follows:

[Phonebook editing]

To delete an entry from the caller list, select the desired entry, or entries. If you wish to select more than one entry, hold down either the Shift or Cmd keys at the same time you click on a second entry. Once you have selected the entry, or entries, you wish to delete click on Delete. An alert box will appear. Click OK to perform the deletion, or Cancel if you no longer wish to delete the entries.

The Announce Caller option allows the Macintosh to speak the incoming callers name (if Caller ID is enabled and PlainTalk is installed).

Resizing the Telephony Control Application

The Telephony Control application can be displayed in three different window sizes for your convenience. This allows you to keep the Telephony Control application open and available on your desktop, without taking over your desktop.

Full Size

The full size display shows the status and mode information on the top of the display, plus access to the other view tabs.

[Phonebook editing]

To collapse the display to mini size, click on the resize tab button.

Mini Size

Mini size only displays the status and mode information. Mini View appears as follows:

[Telephony control]

This view is toggled by clicking on the resize tab button.

Micro Size

Switching to micro size collapses the display to just an icon. Micro size is accessed by clicking on the Zoom box in the upper right hand corner of the window, or on the status icon itself. The resulting window appears as follows: